Lenders with Independence Bank of Georgia don’t view their expansion Tuesday as bucking any trends.

They see the bank’s opening of its new Gainesville branch on Green Street as the next step in a business plan built around strong ties within the city and county they already know well.

“The staff we have is very connected to the community. For us to be a community bank, that means us servicing the community, knowing it and living in it,” said Terry Evans, president and CEO. “We have assembled a group of bankers who have grown up or built their careers in the community, bankers who know and understand area businesses and families.”

That a bank is opening rather than closing is noteworthy since Georgia leads the country in failures, according to figures cited recently by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, with at least 52 recorded since 2008.

The location of Independence Bank’s new branch at 311 Green St., Suite 100, is also significant, with a number of banks operating in the space outfitted for such a business since at least 1978.

A lot of the interior furnishings and equipment, including the vault, were retained from the previous outfit, Macon-based State Bank and Trust Co., which closed last February after little more than a month of new ownership.

Rather than dwell on the industry’s flux, Evans and staff pointed to Independence Bank’s overall strength as leading to its Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and Georgia’s Department of Banking and Finance approvals.

“If we didn’t have a strong balance sheet we wouldn’t have received approval,” Evans said. “If we didn’t have a good business plan, we wouldn’t have received approval. We have four senior lenders with well over 100 years banking in Hall County itself.”

Leading the Gainesville team are John Stump, executive vice president and city executive, and Ricky Pugh, city executive.

The men offered a short tour of the branch office last week, a place Stump remembers his father George working as president of the First Federal Savings and Loan in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Inside the original vault, 192 safety deposit boxes stood empty and in some cases spoken for, Stump said.

“You’d be surprised. They fill up quick,” he added.

While a lot of banking today is electronic, the fundamental necessities of the industry remain intact, including cash. A big money shipment was scheduled to arrive last week, Pugh said.

“There is a lot of online banking,” Pugh said. “But people still have to cash checks.”

Permanent signage is expected to arrive within days, the delay occurring because of the Jan. 9 snowstorm. An ATM machine will be added in March. And a separate suite of offices, including a private conference room, is ready for use, the men said.

While the doors officially open Tuesday, some customers have already opened their accounts, a development that delighted both executives.

“(Banking) is about people,” Pugh said.

Independence Bank of Georgia first opened in 2008 in Braselton. The institution’s goals the past year have focused on building a presence in Hall County, with the majority of its leadership living in the county and its nter, Gainesville, Evans said, including himself.